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  Left - The gantry style loader is positioned above the Leadwell lathe and loads and unloads parts from the top. Right - The robotic arm comes down to retrieve machined parts and replace them with castings that need to be processed. It is a simple to program automated solution that allows unattended lights out manufacturing.
Leadwell it runs more parts in a single 8-hour shift than we could before on two shifts,” touts Jun. “The parts are better too. We don’t have micron tight tolerances, but we deal in tenths all day long. They have to be precise, and the machine has to run. We’ve been up and running for about a year now and it hasn’t needed any service or repairs.”
Jun and everyone at SC Hydraulics are very pleased with the production numbers coming off the Leadwell. Every time a company invests in new technology it is a risk. Will the system live up to the hype promised by the salespeople? Will it produce the parts as intended? The pandemic has been to say the least problematic for most everyone on the planet, but with a lot of Asia shut down there was no practical way for Jun and his team to actually see the system working prior to purchase. “This is the first unit in California and maybe even in the United States with this combination,” explains Jun. “Which was too bad because we were not able to go see one running. Covid restrictions made it difficult to do much of anything, so we trusted Karl and watched a lot of YouTube videos. It sounds strange, but the machine and gantry are from Asia and there are a lot of videos showing it in action over there. It was a large investment, but we took the chance and have been happy with it for over a year. Once delivered and installed it has run flawlessly. We get great support from So Cal Machine Tools and trust them to help us purchase a sophisticated machine tool sight unseen. We couldn’t be more pleased with that decision.”
Since joining the team 17 years ago Jun Yang, SC’s shop manager has championed automation throughout the shop for reduced setups and increased production.
 CNC WEST June/july 2022 www.CNC-West.com 25






























































































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